The Perfect Day
by Lizzyoshi
Summary: Today was the first Quidditch match of the season and it was a great day for flying. So why was Albus Potter feeling sick to his stomach? ONESHOT (Slight Scorose)


It was a calm October morning and in the Great Hall the ceiling was plastered with a light shade of blue, not a cloud in sight. Down at the Gryffindor table the weather was completely the opposite. A storm was brewing and the epicentre swirled from the fluffy head of one, Albus S. Potter. His younger sibling and cousins gazing on with concern. Earlier in August when the owls arrived with the Hogwarts school letters, the letter for Albus' older brother James contained a shiny Quidditch Captain badge. The whole Potter household celebrated this news sans Albus who looked on in horror and could only think to himself 'James is going to run me into the ground'. Turns out he was right in his predictions and James ruled Quidditch practice with an iron fist, everything had to done with twice or even three times the usual intensity. Albus was losing his mind, and it didn't make things better when James threaten to hex him (among other things) should he fail to catch the snitch and they lose their first match.

'Against Slytherin no less…' muttered Albus as he racked his unruly hair furiously over his eggs, sprinkling dandruff like salt. Rose cringed and carefully slide his plate aside.

'Don't worry Albus, we'll all protect you from the wrath of James' she assured him.

'Easier said than done'

As if on cue, the great halls doors opened and James walked in, puffed chest and glittering in red and gold. He came striding up to the Gryffindor table, and halted next to his brother.

'Well little brother, today is the day, you make sure you catch that snitch and I'll make sure not to let a single goal in'. James was very broadly built which made him an excellent keeper. In his entire Hogwarts career up to this point, he had let in only 5 goals. 5 goals he counts on his right hand, balls into a fist and vows to keep it that way.

Albus looked ill, but followed his brother down to the pitch after James finished off a plate of bacon. Rose watched them go, Albus looking completely crumpled in the wake of his brother's shadow. So occupied with his toes he didn't notice someone coming into the hall and squarely knocking them in the shoulder, effectively knocking them both off their feet. Rose's cheeks burned and quickly turned back to her food. Not from the second hand embarrassment for Albus but to prevent her own nervous from collapsing. Albus had knocked down Scorpius Malfoy, a mutual friend of theirs but a one-sided crush to her. She could hear his warm chuckle as he helped his best friend to his feet.

'I don't think you'll find the snitch down there' Scorpius snarked and reached out his hand to help Albus off the floor.

Albus playfully slapped away this gesture. Scorpius was the enemy today.

'Har Har, we'll just see who finds it first' he taunted as he tapped his fellow seeker on the shoulder and continued down to the pitch.

Scorpius gave one of his trademark smirks before then turning his gaze over to the sea of breakfast eaters and settling it upon a tuff of bushy copper hair. Rose was doing a poor job of trying to blend in, her Granger hair stood out like a beacon, glowing with Weasley rays.

Rose knew the inevitable was coming and her cousin Lily gave out a little cough and exchanged her a knowing look before she felt herself being stood over.

'Morning Scorpius' Lily chimed.

'Morning' was his cool reply, which enhanced the way he slid onto the bench and next to Rose. He turned slowly and with a smirk

'Morning to you too'. Rose's face coloured, but she quickly replaced this with her game face and turned to him responding as naturally as possible. They two eventually broke into a conversation about their potions assignment and Lily could not help but smile to herself that when it came to schoolwork, Rose was in total business mode. Lily was always amazed at the way her brother and cousin quickly made friends with Scorpius, and the three had been best friends since, this year now making it five years. There was a little grumbling noise and Lily turned her attention to the source. Hugo was carefully eyeing his sister next to her. He didn't mind their friendship, but that didn't stop his brotherly instinct from kicking in. Though two years younger, he wouldn't hesitate to hex a person for hurting his sister, no matter what year they were in. Something his short fuse got him one too many a detention for. Lily, on the other hand didn't really need the protection of her elder brothers, of course they looked out for her, but it was established pretty early when she came to Hogwarts she could take care of herself.

Scorpius took a quick glance at his watch

'Shit, I need to get down to the pitch now or I'll be late' and with that he rose off the bench and sprinted out the hall adjusting his Quidditch roles as he went. Rose turned back to her breakfast but one bite told her food had already gone cold from her 'distraction'.

'I guess we had better head down to the pitch too and get our seats' she directed over to Lily and Hugo. The two nodded and grabbed up their robes and red and gold accessories. On their way out Lily skipped up to Rose's ear and whispered snidely

'And what stand, my dear cousin, will you be taking up your seat?' Rose coloured as she watched her cousin giggle and run ahead of her.

They joined the trail of students making their way down to the pitch and made their way up into the ocean of red and gold, of the Gryffindor stands. Rose peered down on the pitch and saw James giving the team one last pep talk, Albus looking paler with every sentence. Albus wasn't normally a bunch of nerves, he was brilliant on the pitch. However the added pressure of securing a win the first match of his brother's captaincy was keeping his feet planted to the ground. He had too much respect for the Potter legacy in the game to want to disappoint his brother. Albus had failed to catch the snitch in his first match as seeker, a defeat cut in half because his brother defended so well. Gryffindor was thankfully up by one goal and won the match, granted their captain that year was an extraordinary chaser. Albus soon learned not to rely on such luck again and trained harder. He stared across the pitch as the Slytherin team filed onto it. His gaze locking with Scorpius. Scorpius of course, with a face as smug as ever. Albus then felt his rivalry with best friend begin to reignite and he suddenly felt a bit lighter.

Madam Hooch, stern as ever commanded the captains to shake hands and blew the whistle. Albus kicked off the pitch and soared above it to where he had an encompassing view. Scorpius however flew up but off to the side as if avoiding him. Albus knew this tactic. It was the luck of the draw. Whichever side of the pitch the snitch chose to fly on, one of them would always be closer. A dangerous bet, but Albus knew Scorpius was daring a flyer, if he were to be given the advantage, Scorpius would be on his tail in a heartbeat.

The match raged on for 30 minutes without a sign of the snitch and James was as usual a wall, deflecting every attempt at the goal with ease. If Scorpius didn't catch the snitch they had no chance at winning. Scorpius however did not look flustered, in fact he looked preoccupied with thoughts outside the game. This in part irritated Albus to the point where he also forgot about the game and was wondering what could be causing such strange behaviour. It was only when he followed Scorpius's gaze to the stands did he notice the Weasley beacon fidgeting in her seat. Rose was trying her best to avert the advances of a boy. He was Jonathan Greenwood, a fellow Gryffindor and recent outspoken admirer of Rose Weasley. He had approached her on the train to Hogwarts and expressed his want of 'getting to know her better, perhaps over a Butterbeer or two'

Albus smirked, he knew this information did not settle well with Scorpius and although he told himself not to rely on luck, he was going to leave his friend, figuratively and literally with his head in the clouds and search for the snitch.

Scorpius glared over at the pair in the stands, Rose was clearly uncomfortable, she should just jinx him already and if he wasn't in this match right now he'd do it for her. He watched as Lily tried her best to intervene to no avail. Scorpius' broom was slowly floating over to the stands as if pulled by the strain from his eyes. It was only when the commenter bellowed over the loud speaker '…AND POTTER SEES THE SNITCH!' did this floating motion came to an abrupt halt.

After a fast scan of the pitch, Scorpius turned hard onto his broom handle and dived into a back flipping swoop, head first straight down onto the pitch. Fortunately for him the snitch was on his side of the pitch, directly below him in fact. As he dived straight down, Albus came like a blazing flame low across the pitch, arm outstretched in front of him. The crowd let out a gasp and all heads turned to witness what most definitely set itself up to be the perfect collision. No crash came, at least not between the two seekers. Albus was just fast enough to snatch the snitch up, but Scorpius was faster and unable to stop his broom from flying into the ground. His broom slit on impact and Scorpius was flung across the pitch landing on his characteristic pointed nose. No longer pointed of course.

Rose sprung from her seat knocking back Jonathan (and Lily) and raced down the pitch. Already the players were surrounding Scorpius and Rose had to push her way through to him. She was just in time to see them hoist Scorpius onto a stretcher and prepare to take him to the hospital wing. She joined Albus and the two followed closely behind him. The match completely forgotten, except for James, fuming on his way back to the changing rooms even though his team won the match.

Albus was more concerned for his friend at the moment but still knew in the back of his mind to prepare for James' earful of selfish complaints when he got back to the tower. He had to attend to his sobbing cousin as well. He could only handle so much. When they got to the hospital wing Madam Pomfrey tried to shoo them away but Rose wasn't budging. Being one very accustomed to Granger stubbornness, she let them stay. She only asked that she be allowed to patch up Scorpius without them hovering over her shoulder.

Scorpius was pretty banged up, but Madam Pomfrey has also been doing this for years and soon set him right.

'It's not that bad' Scorpius muttered feebly as he put a hand to his face, and immediately winced in pain.

'Don't touch' Rose cooed. Scorpius was apparently annoyed but her tone.

'Guess it takes a battered up face to draw your attention away from Jonathan Greenwood'

Rose coloured immensely and throwing all delicacy out the door and pinched his nose. Scorpius howled in pain, causing Madam Pomfrey to run over and threaten to throw them out. Albus' roaring laughter being cut off successfully.

'Seriously, you weren't paying attention at all were you' Albus commented knowingly. Scorpius although with tears in his eyes managed smile. Rose oblivious to this exchange of looks, though its reason was just given to her a moment ago.

'I was going to let you get the snitch anyways, I didn't want James to roast you after the game'

Albus though slightly annoyed at the comment, knew his friend to be joking.

'With that dive, sure…you practically gave the game away'

'I know right'

'Oh shut up you two' Rose huffed, she never understood how anyone wouldn't care if they broke a few bones just to win a match.

'It's Quidditch!' chorused the two boys back at her, and Rose let it the issue rest. Incidents like this was no rare occurrence for these three friends and they began to chat away in unaffected bliss.

The weather outside the hospital wing was still clear as ever, not a cloud in sight. The perfect Day.

End.


End file.
